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70 Irish Forestryencourage the development of substitutes. We have seen some of this developmentin the furniture trade. What is the official opinion of the possibility of suchdevelopment, say in the paper trade?In seconding the vote of thanks, Mr. T. McEvoy, Inspector General, Forestand Wildlife Service, Dublin, wondered was it French or E.E.C. courtesy thatinduced Monsieur Le Chatelier to convert to our Irish, Imperial or British unitsat a time when we are in the process of metrication. Our next Forest Report willbe in hectares and cubic metres-and so one obstacle in the path to Europe willbe removed!We are indebted to Monsieur Le Chatelier for the first authoritative elucidationof forestry problems in the E.E.C. It is all the more welcome because the Government'sbooklet "The Accession of Ireland to the European Communities" issilent on this topic and there has been little public discussion. Last Autumn theAgricultural Science Association did have a discussion with contributions fromthe late H. J. Gray and a representative of the forest products industry buttonight's discussion gains enormously from Monsieur Le Chatelier's contribution,his presence and willingness to answer questions.I must also express my personal pleasure at meeting again one who has becomea familiar and respected figure-and indeed, a friend-at various assemblies inEurope-Rome, Geneva, Strasburg, Brussels.Let me begin my comments by referring to the forestry policy background inthe Republic. Unlike many Irish industries, we in forestry have for many yearsaccepted the idea of free international trade in forest products and we haveworked on the basis of establishing here a forest estate and a forest industrywhich would stand on its own feet without protection or subsidy. The old policyof self sufficiency (Sinn Fein) went long ago and we look forward to producingin time an export surplus. In fact already in the particle board and fibre boardsector, there is a substantial export trade to Britain and elsewhere.It follows that the E.E.C. external tariff on forest products (3-13 %) is for usan "unconvenanted benefit" and will improve our position in, say, the particleboard market which is now of great importance to us as the main outlet forcurrent forest produce i.e. thinnings.Our confidence in this approach to entry to E.E.C. is built on several factors.The first is the inherent advantages we in Ireland possess in our soil and climatefor the rapid growth of certain coniferous species, especially Sitka spruce, fromthe American Pacific coast. Our yields are only seldom attainable on the EuropeanContinent and in Britain obtainable only in the western parts.M. Le Chatelier has given the European average as 36 H. feet, of which 26 isindustrial.Our state forests have an average yield class of 126 representing a productionof 107-115 H. ft. This is a figure which we expect to improve on as we eliminatelow yielders like Contorta Pine (inland and Lulu) and Scots Pine on unsuitablesites. The aim since 1967 has been Yield Class 160 and this has been attained inland acquisition over the last 5 years.Second point is as follows-Allied to this advantage in growth rates is thetrend in the wood market in favour of small size trees. In Europe the traditionalrotation for conifers of up to 150 years yielded prime, clean timber of largedimensions but the market for such timber has become less and less attractive.Large sizes for structural use have been replaced by steel and concrete and morerecently by laminated beams made up from smaller timbers. The Europeanmarket for saw timber generally has grown only slowly-at one third the ratesor small sizes. So much so that by 1980 the proportion of large to small will be3:4 j,e. 25% more small timber than large and 50% more in the British market.